href="#n543" type="note">543 And such was the general eagerness, that directly the Wealth of Nations, by the same great writer, appeared, Morellet, who was then high in reputation, began to turn it into French; and was only prevented from printing his translation by the circumstance, that before it could be completed, another version of it was published in a French periodical.544 Coyer, who is still remembered for his Life of Sobieski, visited England; and after returning to his own country, showed the direction of his studies by rendering into French the Commentaries of Blackstone.545 Le Blanc travelled in England, wrote a work expressly upon the English, and translated into French the Political Discourses of Hume.546 Holbach was certainly one of the most active leaders of the liberal party in Paris; but a large part of his very numerous writings consists solely in translations of English authors.547 Indeed, it may be broadly stated, that while, at the end of the seventeenth century, it would have been difficult to find, even among the most educated Frenchmen, a single person acquainted with English, it would, in the eighteenth century, have been nearly as difficult to find in the same class one who was ignorant of it. Men of all tastes, and of the most opposite pursuits, were on this point united as by a common bond. Poets, geometricians, historians, naturalists, all seemed to agree as to the necessity of studying a literature on which no one before had wasted a thought. In the course of general reading, I have met with proofs that the English language was known, not only to those eminent Frenchmen whom I have already mentioned, but also to mathematicians, as D'Alembert,548 Darquier,549 Du Val le Roy,550 Jurain,551 Lachapelle,552 Lalande,553 Le Cozic,554 Montucla,555 Pezenas,556 Prony,557 Romme,558 and Roger Martin;559 to anatomists, physiologists, and writers on medicine, as Barthèz,560 Bichat,561 Bordeu,562 Barbeu Dubourg,563 Bosquillon,564 Bourru,565 Begue de Presle,566 Cabanis,567 Demours,568 Duplanil,569 Fouquet,570 Goulin,571 Lavirotte,572 Lassus,573 Petit Radel,574 Pinel,575 Roux,576 Sauvages,577 and Sue;578 to naturalists, as Alyon,579 Brémond,580 Brisson,581 Broussonnet,582 Dalibard,583 Haüy,584 Latapie,585 Richard,586 Rigaud,587 and Romé de Lisle;588 to historians, philologists, and antiquaries, as Barthélemy,589 Butel Dumont,590 De Brosses,591 Foucher,592 Freret,593 Larcher,594 Le Coc de Villeray,595 Millot,596 Targe,597 Velly,598 Volney,599 and Wailly;600 to poets and dramatists, as Chéron,601 Colardeau,602 Delille,603 Desforges,604 Ducis,605 Florian,606 Laborde,607 Lefèvre de Beauvray,608 Mercier,609 Patu,610 Pompignan,611 Quétant,612 Roucher,613 and Saint Ange;614 to miscellaneous writers, as Bassinet,615 Baudeau,616 Beaulaton,617 Benoist,618 Bergier,619 Blavet,620 Bouchaud,621 Bougainville,622 Bruté,623 Castera,624 Chantreau,625 Charpentier,626 Chastellux,627 Contant d'Orville,628 De Bissy,629 Demeunier,630 Desfontaines,631 Devienne,632 Dubocage,633 Dupré,634 Duresnel,635 Eidous,636 Estienne,637 Favier,638 Flavigny,639 Fontanelle,640 Fontenay,641 Framery,642 Fresnais,643 Fréville,644 Frossard,645 Galtier,646 Garsault,647 Goddard,648 Goudar,649 Guénée,
See the list, in Biog. Univ. vol. xx. pp. 463–466; and compare Mém. de Diderot, vol. iii. p. 49, from which it seems that Holbach was indebted to Toland, though Diderot speaks rather doubtingly. In Almon's Mem. of Wilkes 1805, vol. iv. pp. 176, 177, there is an English letter, tolerably well written, from Holbach to Wilkes.
<p>548</p>
Musset Pathay, Vie de Rousseau, ii. 10, 175; Œuvres de Voltaire, liv. 207.
<p>549</p>
Biog. Univ. x. 556.
<p>550</p>
Ibid. xii. 418.
<p>551</p>
Quérard, France Lit. iv. 34, 272.
<p>552</p>
Ibid. iv. 361.
<p>553</p>
Biog. Univ. xxiii. 226.
<p>554</p>
Montucla, Hist. des Mathém. ii. 170.
<p>555</p>
Montucla, ii. 120, iv. 662, 665, 670.
<p>556</p>
Biog. Univ. iii. 253, xxxiii. 564.
<p>557</p>
Quérard, France Lit. vii. 353.
<p>558</p>
Biog. Univ. xxxviii. 530.
<p>559</p>
Ibid. xxxviii. 411.
<p>560</p>
Ibid. iii. 450.
<p>561</p>
Bichat sur la Vie, 244.
<p>562</p>
Quérard, i. 416.
<p>563</p>
Biog. Univ. iii. 345.
<p>564</p>
Quérard, i. 260, 425, ii. 354.
<p>565</p>
Ibid. i. 476.
<p>566</p>
Biog. Univ. iv. 55, 56.
<p>567</p>
Notice sur Cabanis, p. viii. in his Physique et Moral.
<p>568</p>
Biog. Univ. xi. 65, 66.
<p>569</p>
Ibid. xii. 276.
<p>570</p>
Ibid. xv. 359.
<p>571</p>
Ibid. xviii. 187.
<p>572</p>
Quérard, iv. 641, vi. 9, 398.
<p>573</p>
Cuvier, Eloges, i. 354.
<p>574</p>
Quérard, vii. 95.
<p>575</p>
Cuvier, Eloges, iii. 382.
<p>576</p>
Biog. Univ. xxxix. 174.
<p>577</p>
Le Blanc, Lettres, i. 93.
<p>578</p>
Quérard, ix. 286.
<p>579</p>
Robin et Verdeil, Chim. Anat. ii. 416.
<p>580</p>
Biog. Univ. v. 530, 531.
<p>581</p>
Cuvier, Eloges, i. 196.
<p>582</p>
Biog. Univ. vi. 47.
<p>583</p>
Quérard, ii. 372.
<p>584</p>
Haüy, Minéralogie, ii. 247, 267, 295, 327, 529, 609, iii. 75, 293, 307, 447, 575, iv. 45, 280, 292, 362.
<p>585</p>
Quérard, iv. 598.
<p>586</p>
Ibid. viii. 22.
<p>587</p>
Swainson, Disc. on Nat. Hist. 52; Cuvier, Règne Animal, iii. 415.
<p>588</p>
De Lisle, Cristallographie, 1772, xviii. xx. xxiii. xxv. xxvii. 78, 206, 254.
<p>589</p>
Albemarle's Rockingham, ii. 156; Campbell's Chancellors, v. 365.
<p>590</p>
Biog. Univ. vi. 386.
<p>591</p>
Letters to Hume, Edin. 1849, 276, 278.
<p>592</p>
Biog. Univ. xv. 332.
<p>593</p>
Brewster's Life of Newton, ii. 302.
<p>594</p>
Palissot, Mém. ii. 56.
<p>595</p>
Biog. Univ. ix. 549.
<p>596</p>
Ibid. xxix. 51, 53.
<p>597</p>
Ibid. xliv. 534.
<p>598</p>
Ibid. xlviii. 93.
<p>599</p>
Volney, Syrie et Egypte, ii. 100, 157; Quérard, x. 271, 273.
<p>600</p>
Biog. Univ. i. 42.
<p>601</p>
Ibid. viii. 340, 341.
<p>602</p>
Mém. de Genlis, i. 276.
<p>603</p>
Palissot, Mém. i. 243.
<p>604</p>
Biog. Univ. xi. 281, xi. 172, 173.
<p>605</p>
Quérard, ii. 626, 627.
<p>606</p>
Ibid. iii. 141.
<p>607</p>
Quérard, iv. 342.
<p>608</p>
Ibid. v. 83.
<p>609</p>
Ibid. vi. 62.
<p>610</p>
Garrick Correspond. 4to, 1832, ii. 385, 395, 416.
<p>611</p>
Biog. Univ. xxxv. 314.
<p>612</p>
Quérard, vii. 399.
<p>613</p>
Biog. Univ. xxxix. 93.
<p>614</p>
Ibid. xxxix. 530.
<p>615</p>
Quérard, i. 209.
<p>616</p>
Biog. Univ. iii. 533.
<p>617</p>
Ibid. iii. 631.
<p>618</p>
Cuvier, Règne Animal, iii. 334.
<p>619</p>
Quérard, i. 284, vii. 287.
<p>620</p>
Mém. de Morellet, i. 237.
<p>621</p>
Biog. Univ. v. 264.
<p>622</p>
Dutens, Mém. iii. 32.
<p>623</p>
Biog. Univ. vi. 165.
<p>624</p>
Murray's Life of Bruce, 121; Biog. Univ. vi. 79.
<p>625</p>
Ibid. viii. 46.
<p>626</p>
Ibid. viii. 246.
<p>627</p>
Ibid. viii. 266.
<p>628</p>
Ibid. ix. 497.
<p>629</p>
Ibid. xlv. 394.
<p>630</p>
Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole, iii. 184.
<p>631</p>
Œuvres de Voltaire. lvi. 527.
<p>632</p>
Biog. Univ. xi. 264.
<p>633</p>
Quérard, ii. 598.
<p>634</p>
Biog. Univ. xii. 313, 314.
<p>635</p>
Nichols's Lit. Anec. ii. 154; Palissot, Mém. ii. 311.
